Day 29: "I was on the trail at 6 in about an hour the strong cold wind started blowing again, as I had my sleeves cut off my arms y wrists got very cold so I pulled my "extra' pair of socks on my arms. I passed the little town of Jefferson, then I crossed the divide over into the head of the N. fork of the S. Platte River. after hiking down along this for a couple miles I got a ride with a fellow who was going all the way to Denver, but after a few miles we got down into a nice y interesting canon that i like to examine little closer y perhaps take some pictures, so I got off on the excuse that it was too cold to ride then I hiked the rest of the way past a couple more little town y several summer camps y [unintelligible] down to the town of Bayley where I got me a can of P y Bs [pork and beans] y some R.O. Then I intended only to hike a couple of miles, y then find a nice camping place where it would not be so cold. But again I was offered a ride so I rode about 4 miles y that was ll uphill to, after that I tried to find a good campsite but was not very successful. It was impossible to get any good view today as it was been snowing in the mountains the whole day y tonight it is snowing here too days. I took a room in a hotel as the public camps are a long ways from the City."

Day 27: "Thursday 5/8 I had a good sleep last night, but this morning soon after I got on the way I had to face this strong Cold northwind y it has been blowing the whole day y is roaring overhead now. I had a rather uninteresting hike as far as "Fairplay," an old mining y cattle town, which I foud out is above 10000 ft. alt. I had noticed patches of snow here y there down in the valley this a.m. so I thought it must be pretty high. There has been considerable gold dredging operations goin on in the river bed at Fairplay. Sometime after lunch I kept on going, the road staying very high up near the lower edge fo the timber (there seems to be only a 1000 to 1500 ft (alt) strip of timber from timberline down to the open plains y valleys) to the town of Como where I bought a few groceries then after about 2 mile more I spyed [sic.] a thick willow patch a short distance from the road, which looked like it might give some shelter so I went over there y found a fairly good place although the ground is wet y there is several patches of snow nearby. It has been snowing off y to up in the mountains the whole day y getting worse tonight y every once in a while I get some of it here too. I managed to get some spruce boughs for my bed y I have lots of dead willows for fuel so I guess I will make it pretty good."

"My camp 5/2/24"

'I didn't sleep very well last night due to the cold.' Pete's journal entries for the next few days all begin with some variation of that line. After crossing into Colorado on May 1, he travels cross county for the better part of a week. Even he must have found it monotonous as he stops taking photographs for a while. As you can see in our reconstructed map of his route, he notes passing through Antonito, Alamosa, Monte Vista, and Buena Vista. We'll pick up his story again on May 8 as he heads towards Denver.

We know from his journals and previous research that Parsons came to America from Sweden. In 1909, Parsons and his friend Otto Witt got work on a four-masted freighter sailing from Germany to Oregon. As Barney Mann wrote in an article on Parsons for Backpacker magazine, "Parsons and Witt were both 20 years old and fleeing dismal prospects in Sweden and Germany. Witt had aroused the ire of the freighter's violent captain and the pair jumped ship in Portland, Oregon, rather than completing their contracted journey back to Europe."

Pete Parsons and Otto Witt, undated

Parsons and Witt made their way to Mill City and the Hammond Lumber mill. "The two soon fell into a pattern," Mann wrote, "Parsons would work in the lumber mill for a few months at a time and give the money to Witt, who served as his personal bank. Then Parsons would take off, exploring the Oregon Cascades and beyond."

Four-masted sailing ship

Parsons journals, photographs, and other records are now part of the Mazama Library and Historical Collections. His journals and photographs document his many adventures, including a previous hike in 1923 from Mill City to Kernville, California. That 1200 mile hike may have lit the spark that led him to hike from Mexico to Canada the following year.

"Heading north 5/1/24"

"May 1st Well I am camping in Colorado tonight among snowbanks 6 ft thick y at abt 1000 ft elev. I was on the way at 5.30 and got to Chama abt 8.00. There I left some film y got some more Y inquired abt my intended route, but everybody said I could not get through because of the snow. Well, I got enough grub to last me for 8-9 days, then I struck out, there

was both a road y a r.r. [railroad] going in my direction for a while. The road was impassable, nothing but soft nub so I followed the R.R. (a narrow gauge line belonging to the D y R.G.W.) up to where there was lots of snow here y tried the road for a ways as it was straighter, but the snow was so soft that I sank down to my knees every step y where the ground was bare it was mud y I had to go back down to the RR which I followed to abt 11 miles from Chama. here I cut up the hillside to the north along a bare strip of ground hoping to find a sheltered spot to camp so I

could cut across the snow tomorrow morning before it got soft. Finally I got u near the top of the ridge y here I found the snow pretty solid so I keept [sic.] going about a mile more to what looks like the last ridge, here camp, but the snow is dep nearly everywhere and the bare spots are soaking wet, but I cut a lot of spruce bough y I found a lot of dry limbs for fire wood. But by the time I got pretty well fixed up it started snowing y blowing, but it quit after a while y is clearing up but it will freeze pretty hard I expect. but that will make good going tomorrow morning. My [feet] was wet y got pretty cold

before I got camp fixed but socks y shoes are drying nicely now y I got a big supper under the belt so am feeling pretty good now. This is like camping in Alaska about this time of the year. Here is quite a few wolf or coyote [illegible] up here."